A Mel Toast World Exclusive
Save the Rich!
Jesus, and George W. Bush, would not have it any other way.
Isn’t it peculiar, to say the least, to see McCain now preaching a (traditionally Democratic) populist message? I have to admit that, given my own dismal financial portfolio, I am moved by Obama’s soaring rhetoric that espouses an economic strategy that can be summed up succinctly in the phrase “string up those rich, thieving bastards.”
Whether or not he’d actually punish those responsible for this mess is another matter, but for the moment, his words are welcome. Remember that the trickle down theory can apply as accurately to a lynch mob as it can to economic theory.
However in the former, historically, the trickle often becomes a torrential flood. In the latter, the long hoped for trickle often evaporates before it reaches the lips of those it could help the most.
Is this some communist- or Mother Theresa-inspired tirade of mine? No, not at all.
But it is an indication of my current lack of respect for those who would come forth to govern this great nation.
I see plenty of smart people out there. Far too many smart people, in fact. But I see precious few good people holding court. And, although I may be starting to sound like Savonarola with a case of hemorrhoids, someone has to be in charge of the complaining.
John Steinbeck said it best: “Must the hunger become anger and the anger fury before anything will be done?”
Then there’s this old chestnut: “To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them.”
That last one sounds more like our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence calling for revolution whenever government gets too high and mighty, instead of Shakespeare’s Hamlet worrying over whatever was rotten in Denmark.
Cordially,
Mel Toast
5 comments:
Mel,
"McCain preaching a populist message"?
"Populist"???? Did you watch that little televised McCain/Obama coffee clatch at Hofstra U. last night(sans the coffee)hosted by Bob Schieffer?
What message would that be, Mel? The one where he scarily bashed abortion rights and favors appointing anti-abortion SCOTUS judges? The one where he, (like Obama) pledges to hand over white collar jobs to India in exchange for the U.S. positioning nukes over there aimed at Pakistan? (white collar job outsourcing/insourcing is the corporate welfare queens' little secret cash cow -- always carefully omitted in the debates and in the press, but refer to my past research where BOTH candidates pledged to the audience of GOOGLE HQ and other related articles) that they would raise or lift the cap entirely on immigration to lay off/not hire American computer scientists in favor of cheaper Indian workers.)
The one where he extolled the virtues of free-markets? The one where he claimed to be a pork barrel spending buster but gets behind the $700 billion (hahaha, low estimate, hey)bailout for his pals?
Standing by for you to kindly explain how in the seventh circle of hell McCain fits into the "populist" mold. -t.t.
Of course, McCain is NOT a populist but it is fashionable for Republicans to act like one these days, since all of their rich banking buddies are headed for a lynching especially if, irony of ironies, Obama is elected. When the "maverick" attempts to appeal to "Joe Six-Pack," THAT is populism. Whether or not it is TRUE political discourse of the kind that arrays the common man against the elite, is another question.
This is true, Patrick.
When the "Maverick" boldly proclaimed that he wants tax cuts for EVERYONE, hahaha, the joke is on old populist Joe "the Plumber" Sixpack. (Check out the Keating connection there on Joe from Ohio.)
Nader should have been seated at that table to cut them both a new one.
Finally, and perhaps fortunately, the whole Joe the Plumber trope has imploded on McCain. First of all, plumbers make far more than I do, and I have an advanced degree and years of experience. So let's not "pity" the plumbers of the world! McCain's Joe is just another guy "on the make." Someone who dreams of getting rich. OK. Nothing wrong with that but, if you get rich, there comes with it more responsibility, i.e., taxes. McCain doesn't get that. If you make 250K a year, you can afford to pay more in taxes than someone who makes 70K a year. It's just that simple.
And I believe the expression is "carve them [both] a new one", not "cut." These nuances can be significant, as Jesse Jackson found out when he said of Obama, not simply, "cut his balls off," but, more sadistically, and reminiscent of the old South, "Cut OUT [emphasis mine] his balls!"
That's right! Plumbers make MORE than most of the programmers out here. We just had a plumber here last week, and this guy charges ninety five bucks an hour plus time and a half after hours.
Carve, cut, rip, whatever --
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